FOUNDER OF CRAWDADDY! MAGAZINE, MUSIC EXPERT

Paul Williams, who in 1966 founded America’s first periodical dedicated to serious coverage of rock music, has died at age 64. The longtime San Diego County resident was also one of the world’s foremost Bob Dylan scholars, and he was the author of at least 36 books.

Mr. Williams was under hospice care in North County at the time of his passing Wednesday.

His death was disclosed Thursday by his wife, noted singer-songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill, on her Facebook page. In a post, she wrote: “Rock-writer Paul S. Williams, author and creator of CRAWDADDY magazine (and my husband), passed away last night 10:30 p.m. PST while his oldest son was holding his hand and by his side. It was a gentle and peaceful passing.”

No official cause of death was given. But Mr. Williams had suffered a serious head injury in a 1995 bicycle accident. While he appeared to quickly recover, he began suffering from early-onset dementia by the time his son Alexander was born in 2001. Mr. Williams’ condition steadily declined in the years since.

A Boston native, Mr. Williams was considered one of the music world’s foremost experts on Dylan and the Grateful Dead, often appearing as a featured speaker at symposiums on both. His three-volume “Bob Dylan: Performing Artist” is considered a definitive work on the troubadour.

Mr. Williams was only 17 when he launched Crawdaddy! The publication preceded Rolling Stone magazine by a year. Mr. Williams’ combination of artistic insight, advanced writing skills and palpable passion for his subject matter helped to create a template that inspired other budding rock critics around the country.

He also had a keen eye for finding other talented young writers. Crawdaddy!’s stable of writers included soon-to-be-nationally prominent scribes such as Richard Meltzer and Jon Landau (who went on to become Bruce Springsteen’s manager). But it was Mr. Williams himself who stood out as perhaps Crawdaddy!’s most gifted writer.

“This is a devastating loss for music fans everywhere in the world,” veteran San Diego musician and critic Bart Mendoza said Thursday. “I consider Paul to be the father of music journalism and he was a huge inspiration. He was a really, really nice man and he’s going to be missed.”

Mr. Williams’ legacy was formidable, but friends said he always put the music front and center.

“He had unbridled enthusiasm for the music and he was (like) Paul Bunyan for many people,” said noted music author Harvey Kubernik, a 1973 graduate of San Diego State University. “And he wasn’t in it for the money. His ultimate legacy is that, probably without really realizing it, he was bringing in a do-it-yourself ethos to music criticism.”

In 1966, Paul Simon was so impressed by Mr. Williams’ astute review of a Simon and Garfunkel album in Crawdaddy! that he phoned to thank him. Mr. Williams took Simon’s call on a pay phone in the hall of a dormitory at Swarthmore College, where he was then enrolled.

While still in his teens, Mr. Williams helped champion the work of noted science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick. He also contributed harmony vocals to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic 1969 recording of “Give Peace a Chance.”